In
the last post here I wrote how my wife Linda’s mother and uncle, arrived in
Canada. Her father, William Alexander MacKay, and his brother, Hugh MacKay, and
Hugh’s wife, Catherine, also made the passage from Scotland. Following is a brief
description of the ships they travelled on.
Name
|
Relationship to Linda
|
Ship
|
Date
Departed
Date
Arrived
|
Departure
Port
Arrival
Port
|
Hugh MacKay
|
Uncle
|
SS
Marburn
|
6 June 1923
|
Glasgow, Scotland
Quebec &
Montreal
|
Hugh MacKay
|
Uncle
|
SS
Metagama
|
19 December 1926
|
Saint John, NB
Greenock,
Scotland
|
William Alexander
MacKay
Hugh MacKay
|
Father
Uncle
|
SS
Metagama
|
28 May 1927
6 June 1927
|
Glasgow, Scotland
Quebec &
Montreal
|
Catherine MacKay
|
Aunt
|
SS
Montclare
|
14 February 1928
26 February 1928
|
Greenock,
Scotland
Saint John, NB
|
Hugh
came to Canada first, in 1923, aboard the ship SS Marburn. He apparently was to join his uncle, John McKay, who
had a farm near Tregarva, Saskatchewan. John apparently arrived in Canada in
1869 but I have not yet found a passenger record for him. I have also not
confirmed his exact relationship to Hugh.
Hugh
returned to Scotland in 1926, presumably to marry. His return journey was on
the SS Metagama, sailing from Saint
John, New Brunswick and arriving in Greenock, Scotland on 19 December 1926.
Hugh married Catherine Mathieson in Elgin, Moray, Scotland on 18 May 1927. Catherine
came to Canada later, leaving Greenock on 14 February 1928 and arriving at
Saint John on 26 February 1928, aboard the SS
Montclare.
In
1927, both Hugh and William Alexander journeyed to Canada, again to join their
uncle in Saskatchewan. The ship’s record shows their place of origin as Dyke
Village by Forres which is in the County of Morayshire in Scotland. Dyke had
been the family home for some years. They had moved there some time after 1911
from Findhorn, a fishing village about 9 miles to the northeast. Hugh and
William travelled on the SS Metegama,
the second time for Hugh. The ship left Glasgow on 28 May 1927, arriving in
Quebec City on June 6th. Both were bound for Tregarva. William later
moved to Alberta while Hugh and his family settled permanently in Saskatchewan.
Part of passenger manifest for SS Metagama on its voyage from Glasgow to Quebec in 1926; showing
Hugh and William MacKay – copyright The National Archives (UK)
(image downloaded from
Ancestry 26 October 2008)
The
10,576 ton steamship Marburn was
originally launched under the name, Tunisian.
It made its maiden voyage for the Allan Line on 5 April 1900 from Liverpool,
England to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship was chartered to Canadian Pacific
Steamship Company in 1907 and taken over by them in 1917. In 1915 it was used
as an accommodation ship for German prisoners of war, docked at the Isle of
Wight. In 1918 it resumed passenger service. The ship was renamed Marburn in 1922. She was finally
scrapped in 1928.
Postcard picture of the SS Tunisian, later renamed
Marburn
The
16,314 ton RMS Montclare was built by
John Brown and Company on Clydebank, Glasgow for Canadian Pacific and launched
on 18 December 1921. The ship made her maiden voyage on 18 August 1922 bound
for Quebec and Montreal. On one trip back to Scotland in 1931 she ran aground.
She was successfully refloated and repaired and served for many more years on
the European and North Atlantic passenger routes. The ship was purchased by the
Royal Navy during World War I. She was reclassified as a Destroyer Depot Ship
in 1942 and a Submarine Depot ship in 1944. The ship was decommissioned in 1954
and scrapped in 1958.
Postcard picture of the SS Montclare
The
SS Metagama was a 12,420 ton
steamship, built in 1914 by Barclay Curle & Company, Glasgow for Canadian
Pacific. Her maiden voyage began at Liverpool on 26 March 1915 – destination
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. In her history she had two mishaps,
colliding with the SS Baron Vernon in
the Clyde, Glasgow, in 1923, and then in collision again in 1924, with the SS Clara Camus at Cape Race,
Newfoundland. The ship was laid up in the 1930s as passenger commerce faltered during the Depression years.
She was finally scrapped in 1934.
Postcard picture of RMS Metagama
As
more records become available I hope to find the passenger list showing other
family members who came to North America. For time periods prior to the
mid-1800s, however, the source records are still quite sparse.
Wayne
Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program, handling four
parishes in Devon, England. He
has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a
past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly
journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides
genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
https://www.scotclans.com/bbc-on-the-lookout-for-canadianamerican-descendants-of-the-marloch-metagama/
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